This column will take a break from our usual subject matter to wish everyone a very happy and healthy New Year, and to bestow some awards upon a few “deserving” organizations.
THE THANK YOU AWARD goes to the Miami Heat for putting a championship team on the floor for the fans of Miami, and more importantly for conducting their operations with class and dignity. From the ownership to the front office to the coaching staff to every player that puts on a Heat uniform this is a team that makes Miami proud on and off the basketball court. This is a team that looks, acts, and feels like a cohesive unit on the floor and through the constant civic involvement of the players and coaching staff. Bravo!
THE NO THANK YOU AWARD goes to the Miami Marlins for conning an entire city and selling us a bogus bill of goods. Three quarters of the way through their inaugural season in a taxpayer financed stadium, the Marlin organization pulled the financial plug. The team was not playing well for a variety of reasons, but the team that will take the field in 2013 is an insult to this community. Individually every player will give you one-hundred percent effort every day, but the ownership team has provided the fans with little firepower to compete. The few top line players left have, for the most part, publically asked to be traded. It is a sad state of circumstances, and a beautiful new stadium will look and feel like an empty box for most of the 81 games scheduled to be played at Marlins Park next season. On most days, fans of the visiting team will outnumber the hometown fans. Season ticket holders and sponsors alike were duped by a sales pitch that sounded, and in the end was, too good to be true.
